


Wintertide

by Yatorihell



Series: In The Darkness [7]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, ノラガミ | Noragami
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-22
Updated: 2017-05-22
Packaged: 2018-11-02 15:28:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,376
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10947366
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yatorihell/pseuds/Yatorihell
Summary: Yato tries flattery and Yukine is adamant that he will not celebrate his birthday.Thank you to Gio (the_musical_alchemist) for beta-ing me!Dedicated to Nana, happy birthday!!!! <3<3<3





	Wintertide

**Author's Note:**

  * For [BriMicky101](https://archiveofourown.org/users/BriMicky101/gifts).



The apparent new-founded friendship that had formed between him, Hiyori and Yukine meant that Yato would come up to them casually and strike up a conversation. Although both Hiyori and Yukine had caved in, they were in agreement that Yato would be good for extra lessons seeing as his face made a perfect target.

Yato wandered into the Great Hall surprisingly early, finding the tables were still laid with food as not many students had come along for breakfast yet. However, one face he could always count on to be there was Hiyori. Almost every day for the past week he would come up to the Gryffindor table and smirk under Bishamon’s annoyed gaze, Hiyori’s protection enough for his rival to bite her tongue and turn away in disgust.

It seems it wasn’t needed at this hour as Monday mornings were reserved for ‘special seeker training’, as he heard Bishamon call it. Yato walked over to the table, watching Hiyori as she slowly chewed on a piece of toast whilst flicking the pages of a newspaper. She didn’t look up as he came up behind her, engrossed in whatever new article that had caught her attention. Yato leaned over her shoulder slightly, seeing that the newspaper was the slightly ill-reputed ‘Daily Prophet’. Cocking his head to the side, he read an extract of the double-page spread.

 

**_Break in at Gringotts_ **

_Believed to be the work of dark wizards or witches unknown, Gringott’s goblins have acknowledged a break in. Its reported that the contents of Vault 717 have been stolen. Gringotts goblins are working with authorities to track the perpetrators and restore the stolen items._

 

Yato frowned. _Vault 717…_ why was that so familiar? Yato pushed the gnawing feeling from his stomach, instead deciding to make his presence known to the paper’s owner.

“That looks interesting.” Yato said quite loudly, grinning as Hiyori jumped out of her skin and dropped her toast. Hiyori twisted around on the bench as Yato sat down beside her in his usual straddle position, picking up a piece of toast for himself.

“Mmh-hmp!” Hiyori’s words were muffled by the buttery toast in her mouth, so she opted to crossly glare at him.

“Good morning to you too.” Yato said carefreely, biting into his toast.

Hiyori turned back to the paper, silent as she chewed down the last of her toast and proceeded to ignore the annoyance that was watching her.

“You have Professor Zucchini again today don’t you?” Yato said around a mouthful of food. Hiyori gave a small sigh, confirming it. She paused mid page-turn, sudden confusion on her face.   

“Why do you call him Professsor Zucchini?” Hiyori asked, baffled at the ridiculousness of the name.

Yato smirked.

“It annoys him,” he said simply, “and I don’t like zucchinis.”

Hiyori gave him a look as if she had just discovered that he was a single cell organism that had somehow managed to get accepted into Hogwarts regardless of intelligence.

Well, perhaps he was.

“Maybe zucchinis don’t like you either.” A new voice from behind her caught her by surprise. Yukine sat down on the other side of her, sandwiching her between himself and Yato. “Hiyori, have you practiced the spell for class today?”

Hiyori groaned. She’d totally forgotten to review the Knockback Jinx after her success with Yato.“I’ll be fine, if I can do it once I can do it again.”

“That’s the spirit,” Yato butted in, leaning over to grab another slice of toast. “Wands know what they’re doing, even if the owner is a klutz.”

Hiyori opened her mouth in surprise. _Was he really going to insult her magic every time they met?_ Before she could rebuke his words, Yukine interrupted.

“That’s true, you know.” He admitted.

Yato beamed at him, happy that he was being backed up. He tapped his finger on the desk impatiently as he swallowed his mouthful and broke into his I-know-what-I’m-doing mood.

“Show me your wand.” He instructed Hiyori.

Hiyori pulled it out of her satchel and held it up for Yato’s inspection. He plucked it out of her grip, balancing it between his fingers and thumbs as he critically analysed it. Brown. 10 ¾ inches. He gave it a slight bend as if testing its flexibility.

“Unyielding, so it’s very loyal to its original owner. Quite good for combat and healing.” He twirled it between his fingers, listless thinking about the qualities and what it told him about Hiyori. He practically knew what all wand woods, cores and flexibilities meant and their tendencies. Perhaps it was time to get in Hiyori’s good books.

“Only smart wizards get wands like these,” he continued before pausing for effect, “or witches.”

Yato concealed a smile as he felt Hiyori’s gaze on him, attentive and intrigued. He continued to lather on the positives, talking about the finer details.

“This is cherry, right?” he said, already knowing the answer.

Hiyori nodded, clearly impressed at his knowledge of wands. “With dragon heartstring.”

Yato ‘ahh-ed’, feigning wisdom and awe as he held the wand out in front of him. “It has a very strong power. Cherry and dragon heartstring requires great self-control and strength of mind.”

He tilted his wrist back, offering the wand back to Hiyori with a reassuring, confident smile. “If you can do a spell once, you can do it again.”

“Fancy giving some words of wisdom to me, or are you just flirting?” Yukine cuts in irritably, leaning over Hiyori with his own wand extended to Yato.

At a glance it’s unremarkable. Brown, 9 ¼ inches. Picking it up, Yato looks at it thoughtfully. “Hazel and… phoenix feather?”

Yukine grunts a ‘yes’, watching as Yato dangerously bends the wand so hard he fears it would snap.

“Brittle.” He taps it against his finger before rolling it back across the desk. “No wonder your magic is so unreliable, hazel reflect its master’s emotional state.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Yukine says in a raised voice, making Hiyori glance nervously at him. Just when they started to get along, Yukine was about to snap back to his past self.

“It means that if you don’t simmer down, Puff, your wand will never do what you want.” Yato says, cheer devoid in his voice as his tone rises to match Yukine’s. “Your wands loyalty reflects your own, so don’t be surprised when it backfires on you.”

Yukine is about to explode with a fresh tirade of colourful language that no eleven-year-old should know when Hiyori puts her hand on his arm, placating him. Hiyori kicks Yato, hard, in the shin under the table. With a yelp, he scowls at her and opens his mouth to complain, but is silenced with a look that could stop even a child from misbehaving. Silently and discreetly, she mouths two words.

_Be. Nice._

Yato’s lip curls slightly. ‘ _Owners of these wands are also cynical, unlucky and have insecurities’_ is the next phrase he wants to spit out, but he knew that Hiyori’s intervention was right. They couldn’t keep fighting like this. He reluctantly offers what he would call a compliment to Yukine, who had angrily torn into a piece of cold toast.

“Owners of this wand are clever and thoughtful; transfiguration and non-verbal spells are their forte.” He says begrudgingly, looking away as Hiyori’s expression softens at his attempt to be friendly. “They are weak to extravagant magic so their magic is normally simple yet powerful.”

Yukine grunts a response, pretending to have too much in his mouth to give a proper answer. An uncomfortable silence settles over the trio. In an attempt to break the tension, Hiyori turns her attention to Yato’s own wand.

“So, what kind of wand do you have?” she asks curiously, the secrets of wands being revealed to her in a much greater detail than they were by Mr Olivander at the wand shop in Diagon Alley.

“Ah,” Yato grins, chest puffing out in pride as he produces his wand with a flourish. Hiyori tentatively reaches out to it, silently asking permission to hold it. Yato gives it to her, and she takes it, somewhat carefully. She stares at it for a moment, admiring the pattern engraved into the ebony wood in such fine detail that it must have been specially made. Then, she looks at Yato, waiting for him to explain it, and he does so readily.

“Blackthorn, phoenix feather, 13 ½, hard.” He lists off the basics before somewhat narcissistically describing what qualities the wand – or rather, himself – possessed.

“It’s used by gifted warriors, the best aurors in the wizarding world. It only accepts those who have proved themselves worthy and faced danger. It will never accept another master; it is loyal as a dog.”

“Its owner is also close-minded and stubborn,” a tall boy is standing behind Yato, peering down at him from behind his black framed glasses. The blue fabric peeking out from his robes hood tells Hiyori he is a Ravenclaw. Yato tilts his head back, a quip ready to throw back at his… _friend?_

“Kazuma, you’re so cruel. We all know you’re the close-minded one.” Yato hits back, not missing a beat at his interruption.

Kazuma ignores this, instead turning to smile at Hiyori and Yukine who had been watching this exchange with surprised expressions.

“I’m Kazuma. Second year student and Ravenclaw’s Seeker.” He says politely, “and you are…?”

Hiyori and Yukine both introduce themselves in a star-struck manner, floored at how this Seeker was a polar opposite to the Slytherin Seeker they had managed to befriend. He gave a them another smile before turning back to Yato and giving him a lecture about the importance of contributing to class projects, earning an eye roll and a disinterested wave of the hand from Yato as he promised to start his share of the work.

“Good god he’s a bore,” Yato grumbled, pouring himself a glass of orange juice from one of the crystal cut glass jugs on the breakfast spread. “He should be focusing on the exam.”

Hiyori’s heart flipped. _Exams. The test. Next week._

“Oh, shoot!” she cried out, spinning around to face Yukine’s bewildered expression. “Yukine, have you started studying for the test?”

“Nope,” he said, “I don’t plan on being in class that day.”

Puzzled, Hiyori asked: “Why not?”

“It’s my birthday, I’m having a day off.”

“A birthday?” Yato cuts in, mostly drawn to the idea of cutting class – which wasn’t new to him, “Fantastic, let’s have a party.”

“Absolutely not! We have a test!” Hiyori says, slightly horrified at the idea of skipping class.

Yukine lets out a groaning noise, wishing he’d never said anything. The last thing he wanted was inviting cause for celebration, or to be monitored by Hiyori that day to ensure he sat the test.

“No party, no test.” He says, pushing himself up from the table decisively and quickly walking out of the hall, Hiyori’s calls for him falling on deaf ears. Sighing, Hiyori swings her legs over the bench, picking up her satchel and readjusting her robe.

“May as well go to class now. I have to talk some sense into Yukine.” She says exasperatedly.

Yato raises his half-empty glass to her back in a salute as she brushes past sleepy-eyed students who have finally emerged for breakfast, turning left once she is out of the room.

“Good luck.”

 

~

 

After much nagging over the weeks leading up to his birthday, Hiyori convinced Yukine to sit the test on the condition that there would be no party or hint of celebration.

Of course, Hiyori completely ignored this and produced a slightly lopsided cake from her cauldron after the classroom had been vacated. Yato – making the executive decision to skip his own class and lurk outside – glided into the room at the promise of free food as Yukine began to protest.

“I said no celebration!” he grumbled. He tried to avoid looking at the snow-white icing of the cake which had begun to drip onto the floor.  

“But it’s your birthday!” Hiyori whined, tilting the cake precariously to avoid any more spillages.

Yukine pursed his lips. He stole a glance behind her at Yato who raised his eyebrows before his gaze slid back to Hiyori.

Her wide-eyed, innocent expression and downturned mouth melted his resolve pretty quickly as he turned red at the look she was giving him. Defeated, he flopped back down into his seat.

“Fine,” he huffed. “We’ll have cake.”

Hiyori’s face immediately lit up. She plonked the cake down on the table before rummaging in her bag for something. Yato ambled over and sat down on the desk, eyeing the cake impatiently. It looked like Hiyori had tried to use some sort of spell to make the icing shimmer like snow crystals, but hadn’t quite worked out. Aside from that, the cake was pretty simple, small and round as if made for an intimate occasion rather than a party.

Yato reached out to swipe a bit of dripping icing, but was sharply slapped on the hand by Hiyori who had pulled a cake knife and a slim wooden box wrapped in a red ribbon from her bag. presented the parcel to Yukine and eagerly watched as he opened it. Craning his neck, Yato leaned to look over Hiyori’s shoulder to see what she had given Yukine.

“A quill?” Yato said, unimpressed. Hiyori passively waved a hand at him, silencing his doubts as she waited for Yukine’s reaction. He had taken it out of the box, careful not to bend or break the feather. It was yet again simple and snow white like the cake, but was speckled with flecks of grey and decorated with a silver nib.

“I noticed your quill was a bit…” Hiyori searched for a word which wasn’t as bad as ‘shabby’, “worn. So, I thought a new one would be helpful.”

Yukine had a small smile on his face as he gently twirled the quill between his fingertips, something Yato hadn’t seen Yukine do before.

“Thank you,” he murmured, delicately placing the quill back into the case and stashing it in his bag. Hiyori smiled at him and dragged a chair up to his desk between him and Yato who was eyeing the cake yet again.

“Shall we?”

**Author's Note:**

> I researched wands quite a lot to make sure they had the same qualities as the characters. You can check the Pottermore website to find out what the wood and core types mean, as well as Google what the flexibility mean.  
> I might make a new series to update now and then with little facts about this AU such as wands, patronuses, quidditch positions ect.  
> Let me know what you think!Quite a short chapter but I wanted to do some wand talk, as well as celebrate the Puff's birthday.


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